


Dying Embers

by Off



Series: Tales from Petrichor V [1]
Category: Risk of Rain (Video Game)
Genre: Blizzards & Snowstorms, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-14
Updated: 2020-09-14
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:54:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26457505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Off/pseuds/Off
Summary: Following the crash of the UES Contact Light, two survivors find themselves trapped in a cave amidst a blizzard.With their fire dying out, one must venture out for a moment to retrieve something that may aid in keeping them alive.
Series: Tales from Petrichor V [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2160294
Comments: 4
Kudos: 9





	Dying Embers

**Author's Note:**

> This is a short fic I've had the idea for for a bit. I put this together in a few hours, revising it several times in the process.
> 
> I've wanted to dip my toes into writing RoR fics for a few months now and this is my first foray into doing just that.
> 
> I hope it's at least passable and makes some amount of sense in regards to the actual lore of the games.

He watched as the fire died down more and more with each passing minute, the air becoming increasingly frigid. The pile of sticks they’d collected before the storm was already reduced to scraps and soon, they’d be in real trouble. Just as he had suspected earlier, they hadn’t gathered enough. 

_ Shit. _

For a moment, he eyed her satchel. Speculating that, should he toss it in, it would buy them an hour at most. Was it worth it though? No, almost certainly not. Besides the fact that he didn't know what was inside (what if it was something explosive?) he knew he'd be finding out what a laser arrow through the abdomen felt like if he did that. It wasn't completely off the table but he would absolutely prefer a different course of action. 

The blizzard outside showed no signs of letting up as he stood up and to the mouth of the cave. There, amidst the thick flurry of snowfall, he spotted something. A faint blinking light in the distance. 

_ One of the Contact Light’s security chests… _

The odds of it containing something useful in their particular situation were... pretty slim to say the least. After all, the ship was carrying around 7  _ million _ security chests, now scattered all over the planet from the crash. Who knows if this one's contents in particular would be helpful? That's to say nothing of the fact that forced entry would be tough without the proper tools. It was definitely a gamble, one that was not in his favor. But did he have much of a choice? No, not really.

He spent some time considering the idea. Should he venture out, succumbing to the elements would not take long. He’d probably have a few minutes at most to get there and back with the chest in tow. Seeing as how they’d freeze to death regardless without the fire though, this wasn’t much of a deterrent.

Reaching the chest didn’t take very long, despite the thick layer of snow limiting his speed quite a bit. He was already starting to feel numb from the cold once he got there though, he had to move as quickly as he could.

The chest was half embedded in a pile of snow, the light just barely peeking out. It was practically a miracle he was even able to see it. He moved to the exposed end and grabbed hold of the handles. Much to his surprise, it came free with relatively little effort. Now he just had to make the return trip with it in tow.

However, this was much easier said than done. The security chests were largely made of metal and as a result, were very heavy. Carrying it under these conditions on his own was going to be extremely difficult. He knew it was one of their only shots at survival though so he powered through it.

Upon making it back to the cave, the less frigid air inside felt positively  _ warm _ to his frostbitten skin. It absolutely  _ was not _ but compared to the outside? It was a stark difference.

After placing the chest against the wall, he scrambled to thaw himself out next to the remains of the fire. Luckily the state of it hadn’t deteriorated much during his trek but it still wasn’t giving off much heat. Time was running out and he had to get the crate open. He held his hands in front of the fire for a few minutes longer and then turned his attention back to the cargo he’d retrieved.

The credit meter on the front of the chest read “$25”. This was actually surprisingly cheap for a delivery aboard a UES ship but it was still $25 more than he had on hand. Unfortunately, his credits were now somewhere in the wreckage of the ship. It was also illegal for him to open the crate but he didn’t really care about that.

He turned his attention to her satchel once again.

_ Maybe she’s carrying some dough. _

While she had her back to him and  _ seemed _ to be asleep, touching her satchel quickly proved to be a poor idea. Within an instant, she had a firm grip on him and he could feel the heat emanating from the lazer glave she had against the neck of his suit.

“What… are you doing?”

“We need credits to open that chest,” he gestured towards it, “Y’know, unless you  _ want _ to freeze to death today.”

After a moment of staring him down, she released him and shoved him back a bit, “Learn to ask before rummaging through a lady’s things. Y’know, unless you  _ want _ a glaive in your neck.”

She opened the satchel herself and removed a stack of credits from it. Going over to the chest, she waved the cards in front of it. They dissolved into light one by one until the chest was paid for and the locks disengaged. She leaned down to open it and extracted its contents.

He could not believe their luck.

She held out a single can of gas.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm currently unclear on if chests cost money solely for game-play reasons or because of some actual in-universe lore-established explanation.
> 
> The reasoning here is my own head canon so hopefully it makes sense and is lore friendly. I couldn't really find a definitive answer either way.
> 
> Anywho, I hope you enjoyed this fic. I'll probably write more random one shots when I get ideas for them.


End file.
